KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A bus collided today with the wreckage of a truck that was attacked by Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, killing 30 people aboard the bus in a fiery crash, officials said.

The battered truck was left in the middle of a narrow road on the border of Helmand and Kandahar provinces for several days after insurgents opened fire on it.

Police considered the area too dangerous to enter, the officials said.

Before sunrise today, the bus smashed into the truck and both vehicles burst into flames, badly burning many of the bus passengers, said Abdul Razaq, the provincial police chief of Kandahar.

Razaq said eight passengers were injured. Omar Zawak, the governor’s spokesman in Helmand province, put the injury total at 11. Both said the casualties included men, women and children.